Gyakye Quayson fails at Court of Appeal

• Posted on July 19, 2023July 19, 2023
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an application by Member of Parliament of Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, seeking to have his trial put on hold.

Quayson who is on trial over accusation of perjury and forgery wanted the Court of Appeal to halt his trial until the determination of his appeal challenging the trial High Court’s decision to hear the case on a daily basis.

However, in a unanimous decision to dismiss the application for stay of proceedings, a three member panel of the court held that the MP failed to demonstrate any exceptional circumstances to warrant a grant of a stay of proceedings.

It was the considered view of the court that the Mr Quayson could not prove how the daily hearing of the trial affected his right to fair hearing as provided  by the 1992 Constitution.

Charges

Mr Quayson is facing charges of forgery and perjury in relation to certain alleged offences in the run up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.

He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.

It is the case of the prosecution that Mr Quayson allegedly made a false statement to the Passport Office that he did not hold a passport to another country when he applied for a Ghanaian Passport.

In addition, the prosecution has accused Mr Quayson of making a false declaration to the Electoral Commission (EC) to the effect that he (Quayson) did not owe any allegiance to a foreign country when he filed to contest as candidate for the Assin North seat.

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